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Thursday, March 12, 2015

Marked By You

My fantasy romance Marked by You is now available. Isn't the cover a pretty?

It's a spinoff from a fantasy I wrote in 2009 and which I'm revising now, set in an Africa-esque land. I always wanted to visit the Serengeti but could never afford it, so I wrote about it instead. And then gave the characters a highly contagious and incurable disease - the ability to do magic - indicated by a permanent mark on their faces, because I'm mean like that.

But a few of them are Immunes, which means they need to protect uninfected people by any means necessary. So when such an Immune meets a magician, there's enough sparks to set fire to the savanna.

Yes, that's the disease. You get it, and you can heal wounds, reshape metal, or kill with a touch.

But you also infect other people. And if you ever cross the threshold of how much magic you've used - and each person has a different such limit - the power turns on you. That's remarkably unpleasant to live with, assuming you live.

I'm glad you like the setting too. It was fun to research and imagine, plus I built up a lovely playlist of African songs to listen to while I wrote. :)